A Complex Web
by lovingmylife
Summary: Cobb is forced into one more job and its not like anything the team has ever done before. Things get complicated and a sixth member is brought onto the team. Focus on Ariadne, Arthur, and Eames. Ariadne/Arthur, Eames/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: **After finally adjusting back to family life Cobb is forced to take one last job that is unlike anything he and the team have ever done before. Another team has been hired to shift the decision of the same mark and when things start to get complicated; a 6th member is brought onto the team to help sort things out. Meanwhile the team is learning things about each other that are bringing them closer together, especially Ariadne and Arthur. Focus on Arthur, Ariadne, and Eames. ArthurXAriadne and EamesXoc

**Note: **My first Inception story, but its been more than a year since I posted anything so watch out. I'm not usually a fan of OCs with more major roles but in the case I felt one was needed for multiply reasons that will be revealed as the story progresses but she will not be introduced till later in the story

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inception. **

* * *

**Chapter One: Phillipa's Fairytale**

The room was dark. Only a little moonlight streamed in from between the blinds and a small night light glowed from across the room. Despite the setting little Phillipa sat up in her bed eyes wide and pleading for another story from her father. He always told the best stories.

"It's late Phillipa and look your brother is already asleep." Cobb glanced at James who was lying across the end of his sister's bed.

"Please, it doesn't have to be long." She smiled and Cobb finally gave in.

"Fine but we must speak very quietly."

"Tell me the story of Princess Ariadne." She whispered. The man could not help but smile as he recalls the first time he told this story. Phillipa had asked for a story about a princess, but refused all of the books on the self. He found himself at a dead end. The only stories he had made up were simply toned downed versions of jobs he had had in the past. He had never told the story of the Fisher job but the thought of it had given him an idea. And so Princess Ariadne was born.

"A long time ago there lived a lovely princess and her name was Ariadne." Phillipa leaned back against her pillows and snuggled into the covers.

"Princess Ariadne was a kind girl and loved nothing more than to stroll through her village looking at the buildings and talking with the people around her. Everyone was very fond of the princess, even if her father was a terrible and mean king.

"One day the King came to Ariadne and told her that she needed to be married. Her suitor would be arriving the next day and they would be married as soon as possible. The princess was not happy and she told her father so. "

"I don't want to marry a man I've never met, Father." She said. "I'd only want to marry a man I love."

"Don't be foolish," the king said and he left the room.

"Well as you can believe Ariadne would not stand for this. That night she gathered a few belongings and a bit of food, using a silk scarf as a bag to carry it, and she snuck out of the castle. She ran for the entire night and well into the next morning. It was only when she was completely exhausted that she finally collapsed in the middle of a wide open meadow.

"She slept peacefully for hours and when she awoke she was no longer in a field but lying on the stone floor of a room. She first believed that she had been caught by her father's guards and was being kept in the dungeons of the castle but there were windows in this room. She rushes over to one and is shocked by what she sees outside. She is in a tower that is located in the center of a huge maze. On lookers had gathered around the edges of the maze and among them was the king.

He called to the Princess. "Ariadne you must come out of the maze, no one has been able to reach the tower."

"I will not." She calls back. "You will have me marry a man I do not love and I refuse." She is struck suddenly by an idea and she knows it's the truth. "The man whom can make it through the maze to the tower is the man I will marry because he will be my true love."

After that many men, from princes of faraway lands to common villagers, had entered the maze only to become lost or to end up back at the entrance. Some who tried more than once claimed that the walls must be moving. Paths that had once existed now lead to dead ends.

The princess was fine in her tower. There were old books on shelves and quills and scrolls she could write on. As for food it seemed her silk scarf refilled its self every night so she would not go hungry.

One day a man from the village appeared at the maze. He was not there to enter it; he was there to study it. He was a very scholarly and only wanted to know how it was possible that a maze that not only appeared out of thin air but that was constantly changing could exist.

The princess watched him from her window for many days. She was curious. Why had he not entered the maze? One day she called out to him.

"Sir why have you not entered the maze?"

"I only wish to study the maze fair princess." Every day he would come and she would call out to him, asking if today he would enter. He would say no but would talk to her about his discoveries. As she talked to him she found that she really wished he would come look for her.

"Would it not be helpful to study it from the inside as well as the out?" She asked one afternoon.

"I do suppose that would farther my research but I do not want to be lost in the maze forever."

"I wish you would try Sir. If you become lost I can assist you to the exit from here. I can see the entire maze from my tower."

The man decided that it could not hurt to try and find the princess. She was kind and intelligent and very beautiful. After speaking to her he could no longer remember why he did not want to enter the maze.

Ariadne watched him from her tower; every second growing more fearful that he would turn back. He never did though. In fact he was having no trouble navigating the maze. It was as if he knew every turn he had to make and in no time at all he had located the entrance to the tower.

"Is this where you let down your hair and I climb to your window, or must I face off against a terrifying dragon first?" The man called up to the window. Ariadne smile down as she shook her head. She left the tower room and traveled quickly down a spiral staircase that seemed to go on much too long. She reached the door and threw it open.

"Hello." She said

"It's very nice to speak to you face to face Princess."

"Well it is very nice to see you up close."

The man reached out his hand and the princess took it. She stepped forward and was finally able to kiss the man who found his way through the maze to her. Her true love. The end.

Cobb looked at his daughter. Her eyes where drooping. He wished her goodnight and picked up James from the end of the bed.

"What's his name?" He heard Phillipa's sleepy voice ask. "You never say the man's name."

Cobb stood in the doorway with a smile on his face. Names weren't his strong suit and usually he used the names of people he knew. Which actually made the answer to this question quite simple, "Arthur."

He could see a tiny smile on Phillipa's face. "That's a good name."

Cobb carried James to his own room. He carefully tucked him in and switched on the night light before returning to the kitchen. Dinner dishes were piled in the sink, he was about to start washing them when there was a knock on the door.

He looked at the clock. It was late, too late for guests.

He checked the peep hole first. He recognized the man outside; not personally but anyone associated in any way with the business world would know the man's face. Jonathan Grey owned Grey Enterprises and as all the things that Dom knew about him raced to mind one stood ahead of the rest; he was ruthless when it came to getting what he wanted. With that thought he opened the door and stepped outside. The door not completely closed behind him.

"May I help you?"

"You are Mr. Dominic Cobb." He stated more than asked. Cobb gave a curt nod. "Then yes you can indeed help me. You are in the business of extraction correct."

"I was. You could say I'm retired now." Cobb said shortly. He already did not like the direction the conversation was heading in. He had not been on a job since the successful inception almost eight months ago and was able to return to his children. He really had no intention of going back now.

"A little young to be retired don't you think."

"The decision was based on priorities not age."

Mr. Grey paused for a moment before pressing on. "Well early retirement aside I have a request for you. A job opportunity."

"I'm not interested."

"I really do wish you would reconsider, I am willing to pay a large amount for your services." Grey said calmly.

"I sorry but my answer will not change. I'm content with my life the way it is and do not need to disrupt it." Cobb noticed a dark car pull up at the edge of the driveway.

"My ride has arrived." He said without turning around. He reached into his suit jacket pocket and pulled out a card. "Contact the number on the back when you change your mind, and you will change your mind." He added when Cobb was about the refuse. Cobb was silent for a moment before taking the card. Truly it was only to get the man away from his house.

Jonathan Grey turned and walked down the driveway. The man driving the dark car had gotten out and opened the back door for him. Cobb only returned inside after the car's tail lights were no longer in view.

He shoved the card into his pocket on his way down the hall. He checked on both Phillipa and James before returning to the kitchen and finishing the dishes. He fully intended to put the entire meeting with Mr. Grey out of his head. It had never happened as far as he was concerned.

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**Originally the Fairytale was going to be a one-shot but I decided to use it as a way to set-up this story. To show that Cobb has adjusted to a normal life while showing that the focus will be on Ariadne and Arthur despite not starting the story with them. **

**So please review and I hope you enjoyed chapter one**


	2. Chapter 2

**Note:** Here's the next chapter. I'm hoping to keep up with weekly updates but I won't make any promises. I've got about 5 or 6 chapters done so we're good for awhile. The chapter is crammed full of stuff happening and sets up the story much better than the first one did. I'm trying to keep the characters in character so let me know how I did.

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**Chapter Two: The Bonds of Family and Friends**

Four days later and Cobb had not thought once about his encounter with the business man. He was sitting in the living room with a basket of laundry in front of him. The TV was on the news but the volume was turned down low so he could instead listen to the sounds of Phillipa and James playing in the yard. Their voices drifted in through the open doors.

He glanced up at the television briefly and turned his attention to the clean unfolded clothes. After only a second his eyes shot back to the screen. He snatched up the remote and turned the volume up. A familiar girl with wavy brown hair and brownish eyes filled the screen. And now with the volume turned up Cobb could hear Ariadne's voice.

"_I'm so excited to be here at the opening of the museum. The structure its self is just as amazing as the artwork that is filling it."_

"_You must be proud to be one of the few students that helped your mentor design the building. He is quite the architect." A woman's voice off screen said._

"_Yes definitely. Professor Miles is a wonderful teacher. We learn so much from him."_

The camera moved to a boy about Ariadne's age. He was asked similar questions and Cobb's mind wandered back to the last time he had seen the young architect. It was as he was leaving the airport in LA. She was trying to get a taxi with little success. She looked over, and when their eyes made contact she gave him a tired but accomplished smile and she went back to her task.

Since then he had not seen her. She had sent a letter to him through Miles about three months after the inception. A time span Arthur had designated as safe to regain contact with one another. She also sent birthday cards on both Phillipa's and James' birthdays. He did not recall telling her when they were but figured she had simply asked Miles.

He looked back up at the TV when he heard his father-in-law's name.

"_We were recently informed that your professor is not going to be here at the opening of the museum. Can you tell us why?" The camera had zoomed out and now three college students, Ariadne among them, were all on screen. _

_Ariadne answered and the concern in her voice made it clear she was very fond of Miles. "We were told he was unable to attend because of a medical emergency." _

Cobb immediately knew something was wrong. He had talked to his mother-in-law that morning, not even two hours ago; she would have said something about a medical emergency. He looked down at the pants he was folding. The jeans he had been wearing the day Mr. Grey had shown up at his door. He could see a crumpled white card peeking out the front pocket.

"_Do you know if he will be joining you before the end of the week?" The woman asked. _

"_We were not informed of how long he would be absent." Ariadne replied._

"_Well that is unfortunate but we are lucky to have the students who worked on the building design with him here. They will be at the grand opening of the museum and answering questions for tour groups till the end of the week."_

Cobb was up and moving towards the phone before he could hear anymore of the news report. He took the rumpled and faded card from the pocket of his pants and tossed them aside. He had to squint to make out the handwritten numbers on the back of the card but he managed and soon there was ringing coming through the phone. He quickly glanced out the door to make sure the kids were occupied. They were.

The phone clicked and Jonathan Grey's voice greeted him calmly. "Mr. Cobb I assume this is you."

"What have you done with Miles?" Cobb demanded. His grip on the phone was so intense his knuckles were turning white.

"_Your father-in-law is fine."_ He replied and he sounded amused. Cobb had a sudden urge to throw something. _"He will remain fine as long as you agree to help me."_

"Why do I have to be the one that helps you? There are other extractors." Cobb did not want to plead with the man but he was desperate.

"_Other extractors, yes, but according to some very reliable research you were the only one to have successfully completed inception."_

Cobb sighed. This man wanted inception; something he swore he would never attempt again. "There must be someone else you can use."

"_You are the best Mr. Cobb and I will settle for nothing less."_ He paused. _"And you will help me if you care anything for your father-in-law's safety."_

Cobb was trying to think but so much was pounding on his head the only thing he could do was stare. He stared out the window. Phillipa was running away from James who was chasing her with a bug. Any other time he would have laughed but he could not even smile. Grey was waiting patiently on the other end of the line. He had no intention of hanging up until Cobb answered him.

"Okay, I'll take the job." He could not _not_ take the job. If this man was willing to go after his family whose to say his children were not in danger. "I'll need to know the details as soon as possible."

"I'm on my lunch break right now if you have the time."

"Now is fine." Cobb agreed. The two talked briefly and after hanging up with Grey, Cobb pulled open a drawer of the desk the phone sat on. The drawer was full of letters, cards and envelopes and it took him a minute to dig out the one he was looking for. An envelope addressed to James. It had held a birthday card and a sticky note. The note had a cell phone number written on it. He picked up the phone again and dialed. After a moment a familiar voice picked up.

"Hello?"

"Arthur, I need your help" He paused for a second before adding. "It's urgent."

* * *

Cobb didn't have very many friends in the business; one typically had acquaintances and temporary colleagues. If you needed their assistance they would ask when, where, why, and how much will I be paid. Arthur he considered a friend. He only ever asked when and where and he would be there within the next twenty-four hours.

Eight months since a job together and it was no different. Arthur was there by nine o'clock the next morning. Cobb heard the knock on the door from the kitchen and Phillipa bolted out of her chair yelling "I'll get it," before he could even turn around.

When he reached the hallway Phillipa had pulled a footstool up to the door and was attempting to see through the peephole. She hopped down, pulled open the door and very loudly stated, "You're not Grandma."

Arthur smiled and kneeled down to Phillipa's height. "No, no I'm not. I'm Arthur."

"You have the same name as the man in the story daddy told me." She said with an excited look spreading across her face.

"Arthur is a friend of mine Phillipa." Cobb said. "Grandma will be here in a little while, why don't you go finish your breakfast."

"Okay." The little girl ran back up the hallway, her long blonde hair swinging behind her.

"Dom, you've been telling them stories about going into dreams?" Arthur's tone implied that maybe that wasn't really the best idea.

"Very watered down versions," he defended. Arthur nodded.

"So would you like to start by giving me the details for this job or do you want to tell me why you accepted a job when you said you weren't coming back."

"I don't have a choice."

"Why does that always seem to be the case with you?" He was shaking his head.

"Jonathan Grey is holding Miles hostage." Arthur's eyes widened, that was definitely not what we was expecting. "He told me Miles will be fine but only if I agree to do this job."

Arthur was silent for a moment; clearly he was trying to digest the information. "I know that Grey is…not someone people want to cross but kidnapping, Dom are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay," he paused, "okay what exactly is the job?"

"It's not extraction but it's not exactly inception." Arthur raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure you've heard of Michael Stanton. He's selling off a large multi-million dollar company that's under his control. He's narrowed it down to two companies and Grey wants to tip the scales in his favor. It should be easier than inception because the idea of selling the company to them is already in his mind."

"But so is selling it to another."

"We just have to go in and make him think that Grey's company is the better choice."

"We're not going to be able to do this alone." Arthur pointed out.

"Do you think you can track down Eames and Yusuf?" Cobb didn't want to work with anyone else. Those two would understand and except the particular circumstances. He was only doing this for Miles and in no way was returning to the business.

"We will still need an architect." Cobb started back down the hall motioning for Arthur to follow. They entered the kitchen; James and Phillipa had vacated to the living room after finishing their breakfast. Lying on the table was a folded news paper. Cobb picked it up and handed it to him.

It was open to an article about a museum opening downtown. Apparently it was quite the architectural feat and beneath a picture of the building itself was three pictures, each of a student that helped their mentor design the building. The farthest to the left was the picture of their architect.

* * *

An hour and a half later Arthur had made some phone calls and was now sitting in the living room as James and Phillipa told him their life stories. They seemed fascinated by the fact that Arthur had met them before and they could not remember it. Cobb was watching from the doorway until finally he heard someone let themselves in. He turned to see his mother-in-law enter. She was wheeling a small suitcase behind her and looked worried and tired.

"Dom." She said. She pulled her suitcase fully through the door and closed it gently so not to draw the attention of the children. "So you're leaving again?"

"I don't want to but I have to."

"Does this have to do with Stephen?" She asked. He had called her after he had called Arthur. All he had said was that he needed her to watch the kids for awhile. He hadn't said anything about her ex-husband being in possible danger; it didn't seem appropriate over the phone. "I haven't heard from him."

Cobb could only nod. He and Mal's mother had never been on the best of terms with each other but she accepted his job eventually. She had to; it was her husband that taught him how to do what he did. After Mal began to lose her mind though Cobb couldn't blame her for any anger she felt towards him or Miles.

"Just do what you have to do to bring him back safely." She surprised him. She didn't sound accusatory; wasn't making this out to be his fault. "Don't worry about the children I'll watch them as long as you need me too."

"Thank you." He said. "And don't worry Miles is safe and I'll make sure he stays that way." She tried to force a smile but couldn't. "Phillipa, James come see who's finally here." The kids came running into the hall and their grandmother truly did smile.

"Grandma!" Phillipa shouted as she backed away from the hug she just received. "We were talking to Arthur and he was telling us about all the places he's been. But he says him and daddy have to go somewhere for a while but they'll be back and until then you're going to stay with us."

"Well Arthur is very right now go give your dad a big hug because he has to leave right away." She told the two and they both threw their arms around their father's waist. He hadn't been looking forward to this moment. He finally thought he wasn't going to be separated from his kids and now he was being pulled away from them again. He knelt down to them and wrapped them in a tight hug. "You both need to behave for grandma while I'm gone okay."

"Okay." They chorused as they struggled to get out of their father's hold.

"I love you both and I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Love you too." Both children leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Phillipa released him and ran over to Arthur.

"It was very nice to meet you Mr. Arthur." Arthur couldn't stop himself from smiling at the girl. "It was very nice to meet you too, Phillipa." He rubbed her head gently did the same to James and turned to Cobb.

"You ready to go?"

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So there is chapter two. I hope you all enjoyed it. Look forward to seeing Ariadne in the next chapter. And you will also see a shift in whose perspective the story is being seen from as the story continues.

Thanks for reading and please review


	3. Chapter 3

**Note: **As promised here is my weekly update and Ariadne's first appearance (aside from the tv one). The thing about this chapter is I feel like I can keep editing it over and over but I keep changing things that may come into play later so hopefully in the end I got everything in here that needs to be in here. I hope you all enjoy it.

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**Chapter Three: Please Hold All Questions Till the End**

"ARIADNE!"

"ARIADNE," A girl about college age came running up to Ariadne who had a horrified look on her face.

"Carter." She whispered urgently. "This is a museum."

"Right sorry." The girl's voice dropped considerable. "This place is amazing, every time I turn around something different catches my eye."

"Just don't make me regret bringing you to this."

"You won't I promise, I'm going to go wait with the group now." Ariadne watched as Carter did her best to walk and not run over to the tour group forming. Carter was Ariadne's 'lil sis.' She had been part of a Little Sis, Big Sis program since her junior year of high school. She didn't have a sister, just two younger brothers, so she thought it would be a good experience.

And it was, except.

She and Carter were so very different. She was outspoken about things that she was interested in and Carter was outspoken about everything. Carter was a bit of a partier, typical social butterfly, and Ariadne was happier with small get-togethers. Carter was tall and blonde, the complete opposite of Ariadne's short stature and dark hair.

They shared a love of architecture though and that was enough common ground for them to always have something to talk about. It was also why Ariadne invited her to the museum opening. She had discussed the project with her the entire time she had worked on it with Miles.

Carter also had a calming effect on her. Something she definitely needed if she was going to be on TV and leading tour groups of questioning tourists around a massive building. She was a little more than nervous about the whole thing and Carter knew exactly what to say to keep her from sprinting for the exit.

Ariadne looked at the tour group. There were about fifteen people in front of her and that was her cue to start.

"Good afternoon everyone." She said drawing the attention of the small crowd. Her stomach got that fluttery sensation it always got when she did presentations in class and she subconsciously reached up and pulled on her scarf. "My name is Ariadne, I'm one of the students that worked on this project," she lifted her hands to indicate the structure of the building "and I'll be your guide today." She took a deep breath and saw Carter give her a thumbs-up. She smiled feeling reassured.

"All right let's begin."

The tour was going well. Ariadne knew everything about the structure and was even able to give a few facts about the little artwork that was already on display. It wasn't until half way through the tour did she stutter out her words. In all fairness to her though she was surprised any words came out at all. She had turned mid-sentence, explaining the inspiration for the massive hall they were in, and two more men had joined her group. Two men she hadn't seen in eight months. Two men she was beginning to believe she would never see again.

Cobb was standing arms crossed and looking directly at her. He seemed to have been paying attention to what she was saying. She remembered briefly that he too had studied architecture. A smile crossed his face.

Her eyes moved to the man behind him and the damn fluttering sensation that had almost completely gone came rushing back. Arthur had yet to realize she had seen them and was gazing at an art piece. She noticed that he looked as perfectly put together as always. Not a single wrinkle in his suit; not a single hair out of place. He finally turned his attention on her and when their eyes locked she saw a look of shock temporarily cross his face. He hadn't expected her to have seen him when he wasn't paying attention. The shock was gone almost instantly though and he gave her a small smile.

And she couldn't help but smile in return at the sight of both of them and was overcome with the urge to end the tour right where they were but pushed it down.

It didn't stop her from moving twice as quickly through the rest of the museum. If she had been a paid tour guide had been fired on the spot. She asked them to hold their questions till the end hoping by then they would have forgotten them. Carter was looking at her confused.

At the end of the tour she stood on the first step of an immaculate staircase so that the guests had to look up slightly. She whipped through the few questions that had made it till the end and anticipation was growing inside of her at the thought of talking face to face with Cobb and Arthur. She was stunned when Cobb slightly raised his hand to draw her attention.

"Um, yes?"

Cobb's voice was much steadier than hers. "Was there a main source of inspiration for the buildings overall design?" She didn't know why but it wasn't the kind of question she was expecting. It just seemed too normal. She mentally shook away her thoughts and answered.

"The museum's main exhibits are abstract and unrealistic. The building was designed to reflect similar ideas, questioning if the structure is really possible. The extreme spans between the support beams and the height of the ceilings. It's almost like something you could only see in a dream."

Cobb smiled. "Another question?" She nodded in consent.

"Is this building design the most difficult you've ever worked on?"

"It is the most difficult design that has actually been followed through on." She explained. "I've designed buildings even more complex but they are just sketches yet to make a real life appearance."

When there was a moment of silence among the tour group Ariadne thought it would be best to dismiss them. "Okay well this conclu-"

"One last question if I may?" Cobb interrupted.

"Of course."

"If you were given the opportunity to design buildings that were not bound by laws of physics, would you do it?"

Ariadne didn't hesitate before answering. "Absolutely."

She stared at the two men for a moment before addressing the group. Telling them that this was the end of the tour and sorry the gift shop had not yet been opened. As people started to disperse she stepped down off the stairs and in the direction they had disappeared into the crowd. She only made it three steps when Carter ran up next to her and took hold of her arm.

"Do you have to run to the bathroom or something? I've never heard you talk so fast. And what was up with those last few questions, do you think those two guys have a job position for you. That would be so amazing."

"Carter calm down," Ariadne said. "Those two are men from the internship I told you about. From last semester."

"Those are the men you worked with?" She exclaimed. "Ariadne, remind me to ask Professor Miles to set up me up with an internship when he gets back okay." Ariadne laughed but added a question to the quickly growing list of questions she had to ask Cobb and Arthur. She needed to know how Miles was doing. The dean hadn't given her or the other students any details; just that he was out for a medical emergency.

"If you will excuse me." She said and Carter reluctantly released her arm.

The crowd had dispersed around her and she couldn't see Arthur or Cobb anywhere. She hoped they hadn't left. The way Cobb was questioning her she thought, maybe, maybe they had a job and wanted her to help.

Finally after making her way to the atrium she saw a familiar man. He was examining the entrance doors and turned when he heard her approaching footsteps.

"It's nice to see you again Ariadne." Cobb was smiling and she noticed that he looked much happier than he had during the inception job. Only deep in his eyes could she see a little worry and her first thought was Miles.

"It's great to see you too," she paused and thought if now was an appropriate time to ask. "How is Professor Miles?"

Ariadne was positive she saw him hesitate before he answered. "He's fine; it's his sister that is not feeling well. He took some time off to spend with her and the children."

"Oh well that's good, well no not about his sister but taking time to spend time with her," she was having trouble saying what she wanted too. She was glad Miles was alright but, "is she okay?"

"She'll be just fine."

They were silent a moment and Ariadne looked at the surrounding area, and then she realized something was off. "Where did Arthur go?" She knew she had seen him before, she was positive her mind hadn't just conjured him up upon seeing Cobb; well she was almost positive.

"He just received a phone call," Cobb explained, "he's attempting to track down Eames and Yusuf."

Ariadne felt a bit of disappointment settle in her stomach but smiledquickly when his words processed. If they were looking for Eames and Yusuf then it probably was a job they were here about. "So I suppose that means the two of you aren't here to inform me of my professor's health."

"That would be correct."

"I thought you were out of the business."

"This is kind of a owed favor to a friend of mine." Ariadne briefly wondered about the friend and the favor he was repaying but felt those where topics best left to a less public location. "So would you be willing to help us?"

"Absolutely." She repeated her word from earlier. Just the thought of being able to design in a dream again filled her with excitement that her bouncing on the balls of her feet. Questions like when and where sprang to mind ready to pour out of her and then she remembered where she was.

"I'm supposed to be showing tour groups around till tonight and I've got an interview in the morning."

"Not a problem, we will go collect the others while you finish up your other duties."

"Just send me the details."

* * *

Okay so I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. The next one is my favorite that i've written so far and that may be because Eames makes his entrance and I find Eames very amusing. Please leave a review, aside from the anticipation right before reading them I love to know what you all think.

By the way I want to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited or alerted the story. Its great to know there are people reading it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Note:** Its been another week already so here is chapter four and Eames grand entrance. The chapter was greatly influanced by the chase scene in the movie when they are in Mombasa. They show an areial shot and I noticed how close the buildings are it was what gave me the idea for this chapter. But i don't want to give anything away so i will explain more at the end.

* * *

**Chapter Four: The Must Have Chase Scenerio**

Arthur snapped his phone shut and sighed in frustration. He was pretty sure Eames went out of his way to make his life difficult. He was about to head back into the building when he saw Cobb approaching him.

"Did you locate Eames?" he asked.

"Unfortunately," he said with a nod. He noticed the absence of a certain architect, "Where is Ariadne?"

"Inside, she has previous engagements to uphold but will be meeting us later." Arthur felt a surge of disappointment at the news but pushed it away. He would have liked the chance to talk with her; he found her fascinating for reasons he really couldn't explain. He had missed having her around to talk to but when he remembered his phone call he just had he decided maybe Ariadne not joining them right away was a good thing.

"It's probably for the best Eames has gotten himself into some trouble but he has agreed to help us." He starts making his way towards the car he was renting from the airport. Cobb follows.

"And Yusuf?"

"Will also be meeting us later, how did Ariadne take the news about Miles?" he asked curiously. He recalled the girl speaking fondly of her professor on many occasions during the Fisher job. He couldn't see her taking the news of his situation lightly.

"I didn't tell her." Arthur stopped mid-step and turned on Cobb. He had also stopped walking.

"You didn't tell her."

"It's for the best." The older man said, defending his actions. "Listen," he added after Arthur's disbelieving expression refused to change. "She doesn't need to know it will just worry her. Grey has promised that Miles is fine and being taken care of."

"Fine," Arthur nearly shouted before regaining his composure and lowering his voice. He didn't need to draw attention of the others in the parking lot. "Cobb he is not fine, he's being held hostage!"

"I know,"

"And how do you know that you can even take Grey's word on whether he's okay or not. For all you know they could be starving him or-" Arthur didn't like things to be uncertain and was now unable to stop himself from listing off everything that Miles could possibly be enduring.

"I know, I know okay," Cobb said, also trying to keep his voice down. "I get it. For all I know he could be dead." There was a long silence between them. Arthur immediately regretted everything he said. He knew Cobb hated the situation he, and out of association and loyalty the rest of them, had been thrown into, but Ariadne had a right to know.

"Every possible scenario as to how this could play out is running through my mind and most of them don't end well for Miles." Cobb said, finally breaking the silence. "I know how Ariadne thinks and I don't want to put her through what I'm going through, do you?"

Arthur sighed. Of course he didn't want her to go through what Cobb was going through. Nobody should have to go through what he was going through. He tried to reason with himself. If Ariadne knew it would only serve to worry and distract her. He thought momentarily that it could also push her to be more determined to be sure the job was successful but no she was sure to put in one hundred percent effort no matter the circumstances.

"Okay I won't say anything." He said but in his gut it still felt like a bad idea. The two men climbed into the car; no words were exchanged until they were on the highway heading in the direction of the airport.

"So where is Eames and exactly what kind of trouble has he gotten himself into?" Cobb asked, Arthur noticed he seemed a little less tense. He thought back on his earlier conversation with the forger and couldn't help but smile just a bit.

"He's back in Mombasa," Arthur said, "and he insisted that I tell you that in his defense he didn't know she was married.

Cobb's laughter filled the car and Arthur heard him say something along the lines of 'isn't that always the case.'

* * *

"This is the right place?" Cobb asked as they stopped in front of a somewhat run down looking hotel. Arthur checked the number on the building and the buildings in close proximity. Yeah, it was the right one. They entered and approached the front desk. All Arthur could wonder is why Eames would stay in a place like this with the amount of money in his bank account. It was tiny, dark, musty. Behind the front desk was an elderly man with a newspaper; he didn't realize their presence until Cobb has placed his hand on the desk and loudly cleared his throat.

The man looked up and took them in. Clearly noting their expensive suits and well kept appearance. "May I help you?"

"We are looking for a Mr. Eames." His look became even more critical.

"There is no one here by that name."

"You know this off the top of your head?" Cobb asked suspiciously.

The man smirked. "Look around, does this establishment look like it keeps many guests?"

"Sir," Arthur said, finally speaking up. The man seemed to dislike him even more than Cobb, if the look he received was any indication. "We are looking for a Mr. William K. Eames, I'm sure if you check your logs you will see that he is in fact a guest here."

The man seemed surprised by Arthur's knowledge and hesitated before speaking. "Top floor, second door on the left."

"Thank you." Arthur said curtly. He turned towards the stairs and Cobb followed.

"Is William really his first name?"

"It's the one on his birth certificate, but when it comes to Eames I'm not sure that that makes it credible."

It was easy to find Eames' room. The hotel had only three floors, ground included, and four rooms on each floor, two on either side of the hall. Arthur knocked twice on the door, there was some shuffling inside and silence for a moment before the door was opened and the two men were pulled swiftly inside. The door was slammed shut and locked securely before any greetings were exchanged.

"Evening gentleman," Eames was grinning though Arthur could see he wasn't in his usual state of care-freeness. Cobb held out his hand. "Great to see you again Mr. Eames."

"Same here, how's normal life treating you?"

"Quite well, until just recently." Cobb replied, making light of the serious situation. Eames nodded and turned to Arthur.

"Arthur, always a displeasure to see you."

"Likewise." He responded coolly. "And now that we've exchanged hellos I believe we should get down to business."

"Always straight to the point, but I suppose that is your job." Eames led them to a small table in the cramped hotel room. He offered them the two chairs and took a seat on the bed. "Where shall we start?"

"I'm sure Arthur gave you a briefing on the situation?" Cobb asked. Eames expression became serious and he nodded solemnly. "Are you certain Grey has Miles, I've heard of companies making threats but most are too afraid of getting their hands dirty to go through with them."

"Positive, no one's heard from him and the university received a letter saying he was taking emergency medical leave."

Eames raised an eyebrow, "in that case are you sure he's alright?"

"We've reasoned that Miles is of no use to Grey if he's dead if that's what you're implying." Arthur stated. "Cobb is hoping to set up an arrangement to see him."

"I wish you luck with that, I've heard Jonathan Grey's even more ruthless than ol' Marty is."

Cobb looked genuinely confused. "Ol' Marty?"

"Eames here has gotten himself into trouble with a notorious mobster."

"You think I would have gone within a hundred yards of that woman if I'd have know who her husband was?" Eames defended. "I'd have stayed away from her if I'd just know she had a boyfriend. I don't pursue the ones that are already attached. Hurts a man's pride and dignity if your girl is running off to some other bloke."

"What about Jennifer Lane?" Arthur asked.

Eames waved his hand dismissively. "Jenny was the exception darling, her boyfriend was an ass."

Arthur rolled his eyes and Cobb took the opportunity to jump back into the conversation. "Morality aside, how much trouble are you in with this Marty guy?"

"He's got some of his men looking for me, I don't know what they're supposed to do when they find me and if I can have it my way I won't be finding out." the forger explained. "That's why I'm here, good friend of mine runs this place, told him if anyone came looking for me, I'm not here."

"I see," he responded. "Well why exactly did you need us to come escort you out of here?" Cobb's question was answered by a sudden pounding on the door and everyone's heads snapped in its direction.

"Well you see" Eames said as he stood up and moved to the window, "I was beginning to think they were closing in on me." Arthur and Cobb joined him. The weak frame around the door started to shake as the pounding continued.

Eames pulled open the window and climbed out on to the rickety fire escape. The others followed and Arthur silently wondered if the rusted metal reinforcers would be able to sustain the weight of three grown men. Eames reached out for the ladder and started up.

"Why the hell would we go up?"

"Because they'll be expecting us to go down won't they."

Arthur looked to Cobb who only shrugged and followed Eames. Arthur was questioning both their sanities when he heard the door inside burst open, slamming against the wall. He quickly reached out for the ladder and began climbing.

Arthur hoisted himself onto the roof and glanced back over the side, two men were climbing out the window. "Please tell me you have some sort of plan, I'm used to defending myself in dreams but I'd rather avoid shooting at people in the real world."

Cobb seemed to share Arthur sentiments and was also looking questioningly at Eames.

"Do you have a car?" he asked.

"Yes, three streets down."

"Well then I guess we'll just have to make a run for it." He said with a mischievous smirk.

"We are cornered on a roof!" They heard the fire escape shake as it was climbed.

"Who said we were cornered?" Just as the first man's head appeared above the roof's edge, Eames took off at a sprint and jumped to the roof of the building next to them. Arthur was now certain the man had lost his sanity but choices and time were limited so with no longer than a second of thought he and Cobb were following after Eames also jumping the three foot gap to the next building.

"This is a terrible idea." He shouted at Eames. A gun shot was heard and they were on the move.

"Wonderfully perceptive there Arthur let me know when you come up with a better one." He led the way leaping to the next building. Shots continued to fire and when they reached the fourth building Arthur realized they were being shot at from below by two more men.

"Next buildings a little lower," Eames warned. 'A little lower' ended up being a good eight foot drop and Arthur was wishing he had worn an older, more broken in pair of shoes.

"Eames we're running out of buildings." Cobb yelled. There was only one left in front of them but they had put two buildings between them and their attackers. Eames veered to the side and was heading for the back of the building. He grabbed hold of the bars of a fire escape that Arthur thought looked even older than the first and started his way down.

They reached the ground just as bullets could be heard bouncing off metal. They took off down the alley behind the buildings.

"Which way?" Eames shouted from the front. They were approaching the open street quickly.

"Left." They continued to shout directions to him as they maneuvered through the busy streets. People attempted to move out of the way, many not quick enough where pushed aside with no time for apologies. The shots seemed to have stopped in the crowd, or they had thought until they turned on to the street where the car was. Two more men emerged, almost out of nowhere.

"Keys!" Arthur shoved his hand into his pocket, pulled out the car key and heaved it to Eames. He threw open the car door, flung himself in and started the engine. Cobb took the passengers' side and Arthur just made it into the back seat, door not fully closed before Eames floored the gas pedal. The wheels brought up enough dust to throw off the shooters aim but one managed to hit the back windshield which cracked severely, showering the back seat with glass.

"Everybody all right then?" Eames asked once the air around them seemed to have calmed. They were speeding down a fairly empty road towards the airport.

Cobb was examining a tear in his shirt sleeve and blood could be seen staining the edges.

"You weren't hit were you?" Arthur asked.

"No," he shook his head. "It was a loose piece on the damn fire escape." He examined it more closely and hissed in pain when he touched it. "It would have hurt less to have gotten shot."

"Sorry about that." Eames said. He sounded truly apologetic.

Arthur was fine as far as he could tell, except his feet which he knew were torn up pretty well, if the pain was any indication, and he wasn't looking forward to seeing. He pulled off one shoe carefully, there was blood and blisters and his sock was unrecognizable. He sighed and Cobb turned to see what was wrong.

A faint smile spread across his face. "Man, you have got to buy a pair of sneakers." Eames laughed and Arthur leaned back careful to avoid and glass shards. The forger wasn't just trying make his life difficult, he was making it completely agonizing.

* * *

Well i hope you all enjoyed this chapter and that it wasn't too similar to the movie. I reasoned that putting them up on the roofs and having all three of them involved in the chase would create a good seperation. Also that the target was Eames and the story definitly calls for a chase scene. I listened to the Track Mombasa on the inception soundtrack (which is amazing by the way) like 20 times while writing this.

Please leave a review and thank you to all reviewers and new favoriters and alerters. You guys are great.


	5. Chapter 5

**Note: **My week feels so long but the second I come to posting its like I just did it yesterday. But its always exciting so here it is chapter five, up and ready to go.

* * *

**Chapter Five: A Welcome Warehouse with Mix-Matched Chairs**

"So why Paris again?" Eames asked as they parked in front of a rather inconspicuous warehouse. Not the same one they used during the Fisher Job but similar in every aspect. "It's a beautiful city and all but I've always preferred warmer areas."

"A couple reasons," Cobb said. "Our mark has a vacation home here that he visits once a month, _alone_."

"An opportune opportunity."

"And it's easiest for Ariadne who still has classes."

" Wait." Eames stopped walking just as they reached the warehouse door. "Why was I not told we'd be working with the lovely Ariadne again?"

Cobb and Arthur looked at each other and back at Eames. "Did we not mention that?" Cobb asked.

"She was the only one Cobb is willing to work with, we all are actually." Arthur said.

"Well then step aside I have a young architect to greet who has probably sorely missed me." He stepped past them and pushed open the door. Voices could be heard from the other end of the warehouse. Ariadne was asking Yusuf about all of the math calculations spread across the desk where he was sitting.

As the three men crossed the room they listened to a long complicated explanation about body weight and overdoses that didn't hold Eames attention.

"Basically Love it's just so you don't turn into our very own sleeping beauty." Ariadne looked up at Eames remark. A wide grin spread across her face at the sight of them and she hurried around the desk, arms open wide to Eames who hugged her tightly. He had truly missed the girl since the Inception job. Over the time they spent together he had developed an older brother/little sister relationship with the young architect. They shared two qualities that he valued greatly, creativity and imagination. She also had a natural knack for breaking the rules, whether she'd liked to admit it or not, that he very much admired.

"How have you been lately?" He asked when he released her. "Your last letter didn't say much."

"Just busy, exams and working on my portfolio, usual college grad student things." Eames noticed her attention shift to the others and could tell that though she was excited to see them she was not as comfortable with throwing her arms around them as she was with him.

"It's great to see you all again." She said and the others nodded.

"I must apologize for missing our last meeting Ariadne," Arthur said stepping forward. "Mr. Eames here has terrible timing."

Ariadne smiled and rolled her eyes. Eames was about to retort when Cobb spoke up. "Eames, Yusuf may I have a quick word with you both." Eames shrugged and followed Cobb to a more secluded part of the warehouse. Yusuf got up from his chair, he shook hands with Eames as they walked, and when they stopped clearly out of hearing distance from Arthur and Ariadne he asked what exactly was it they were not supposed to know.

"It's not what they're not supposed to know it's what Ariadne doesn't need to know." Cobb explained.

"And what is it that you think she doesn't need to know?" Eames asked skeptically. He thought back on they're previous job and how Cobb thought they didn't need to know they wouldn't be able to kill themselves to wake up from the dream. And that maybe he shouldn't be left up to decided what one person should or should not know.

Cobb hesitated before answering. "She doesn't know about Miles."

"Excuse me, she doesn't know?"

"It will just worry her-"

"How does she not know?" Eames raised his voice and quickly lowered it again. "Why does she think you're doing this job?"

"I told her it was a favor for a friend of mine."

"A friend? A friend who has taken your father-in-law hostage-"

"Look I've already heard it all from Arthur." Cobb interrupted.

"Well then it seems we finally agree on something."

"Isn't Miles her professor, she's going to notice he's missing don't you think?" Yusuf asked.

"Listen, the school told her he was away for medical reasons, I've told her Miles is away visiting the kids and that she has nothing to worry about. And trust me she will worry if she knows the truth, there is nothing she can do about it. That would bother her more than anything."

Eames leaned back against the wall and ran a hand over his face. The three looked over at Ariadne. She and Arthur were pulling chairs into a circle around a large dry-erase board.

"What happens if she finds out?"

"She'd still complete the job, she'd do everything thing she-"

"No, I know that," Eames said as he faced Cobb once more. "I mean do you think she'd ever forgive us, every trust us again?"

Cobb didn't reply. Eames, silently agreeing not to say anything, walked around the extractor and over to the makeshift conference room. Cobb watched him go. He looked at Yusuf who nodded, also agreeing not to tell.

* * *

"So what is it they don't want me to know?" Ariadne asked Arthur as they watched the others retreating backs.

He shrugged, "don't know." Ariadne didn't believe that; Arthur knew everything, it was his job. "Help me gather some chairs?"

His changing the subject was obvious but she seemed to except it and started moving the chairs nearest to her into a large circle.

"How have you been since I last heard from you?" After three months had passed since the inception he had sent her a letter to see how she was doing. Being brought into the world of dreaming and then abruptly dumped out of it couldn't be easy on a person. She said she was adjusting back to reality but it wasn't easy. He wished he could have been there to help her through it but every time he had considered returning to Paris he managed to talk himself out of it.

"I've been doing well. Life was actually almost back to normal when you and Cobb showed up at the museum." He looked up at her.

"You didn't have to take this job you know," he said. Sure Cobb said he'd only work with her but if she wanted a normal life free of corporate espionage and shared dreaming then that was her choice not Dom's.

"Of course I know that, I wanted to do this. I've missed this, all of it." she gestured around her, "even the old mix-matched chairs."

"The more jobs you take the harder it is to give up." That he knew for sure, but he wasn't trying to talk her out of the job. In fact he enjoyed working with her more than anyone else he had ever worked with. She was intelligent, clever, dedicated and easy to talk to about work or whatever else came to mind. On a more selfish note she was also very pretty.

However the job did take its toll on people. The loss of the ability to dream without a needle jammed into your arm, a sever lack of normalcy and, how had Cobb always described it, not strictly speaking legal. Arthur just wanted to warn Ariadne.

"Maybe I don't want to give it up." Arthur noticed a sly smile on the girl's lips. Cobb had been right; the real world wouldn't be enough for her.

"Well I'm glad to hear that." There was a comfortable silence between them. Ariadne straightened out the last chair and took a seat. Arthur sat down on the seat next to her and she turned to face him.

"And what have you been doing for the past eight months?" She asked. "That is if you can tell me."

Arthur laughed. He was awfully secretive about his life and his whereabouts. "Just a few odd jobs, nothing as grand scale as the Fisher job."

"Could any job be a match for that one?"

"I suppose not." He agreed. "It's been years since I've done a job without Cobb on the team." Ariadne gave him the strangest look. "What?"

"I guess I just never imagined you working with anyone but Cobb."

"It wasn't for long that I worked without him, the first person I actually worked with was Eames."

"Really?" Arthur nodded. "That is a story I would love to hear."

"It will have to wait for another day, it looks like we are about to start."

* * *

"As of right now we don't have much information." Cobb stood next to the white board. Three pictures were taped across the top.

"Michael Stanton is our Mark." Ariadne focused on the picture trying to memorize the face and the name. She could remember faces quickly it was putting a name to them that took a minute more. "He is selling of a portion of his company and Grey wants insurance that it will go to him."

Ariadne noticed that Stanton was definitely the oldest of the men on the board. Cobb explained that Jonathan Grey was the one in the middle. His hair was very dark, a few age lines here and there and his eyes, Ariadne thought, looked very cold. He seemed like he would be rather unpleasant in person and she wondered what the reason was that Cobb would owe the man a favor.

The last picture is of Carlton Steins. He looked much younger than Grey and far less grim. "Carlton inherited his company a few years ago from his father. The company has a good reputation but has not been doing well recently which will help us in the long run."

"So how exactly are we going about this?" Arthur asked. "We either need to build up the idea that Grey is the better choice or make Steins appear an irresponsible one."

"How about both?" Eames suggested. "I could impersonate Steins, give him a bad reputation."

"It's a thought." Cobb said as he took a seat. "But planting that doubt is just like planting an idea and it will be hard."

"But it's not the main idea, nor is it a life altering one." He reasoned.

"If you could impersonate Grey, we can simulate Stanton signing the company over to him." Arthur recommended. Up to this point Ariadne was feeling quite useless as no talk of dream levels had come up but a business agreement would have to take place in a-

"Ariadne we're going to need an office building." She nodded quickly in agreement. She was about to ask about another level when Arthur spoke again.

"How many levels is this going to be?"

"Although I think three would be best I'm not going to ask anyone-"

"-to enter a dream with no emergency exit." Eames finished for him. He was right; death in the dream was the easiest way out. It took some time to get used to though. Both doing it yourself and having someone do it for you.

"If I may speak now." Ariadne looked over to where Yusuf had been quiet through the entire group conversation. "I have spoken with a few other chemists and done research of my own. I think I may have found a few different options to get you three levels down with both stability and reassurance that no one will be falling into limbo." The way he said it was casual but Ariadne noted the somewhat arrogant smirk on his face.

"You're serious?" Eames asked. Yusuf nodded.

"That's great news but what are the other levels going to be?" Other than an office building floor plan she was looking at a short to do list.

"I think we're going to need a little more information first before we can narrow down the other levels." Cobb answered. "But you can work with the idea that the office building will be level three."

* * *

**Did you guys like this chapter? It felt kinda of choppy being divided into three parts but its was still a continuous time frame. well anyways i hope you enjoyed it. In the next chapter things start to get more complicated for the team**


	6. Chapter 6

**Note:** Hey everyone i hope you are all still enjoying my story. I'm falling a little behind on my writting but i refuse to not have my weekly update even if I have to spend to whole weekend writing to keep up.

* * *

**Chapter Six: Not the Only Ones in the Business**

Cobb looked around the lavish hotel lobby and then at his watch. He was supposed to meet with Grey at eight sharp in the hotel's bar and it was now seven fifty five. He crossed the room not looking out of place at all wearing an expensive, perfectly pressed suit that blended him in nicely with the more legitimate businessman and women.

The bar wasn't crowded, likely due to the early hour, and from the entrance Cobb was able to spot Grey at his table. He stood up to shake hands with the man across from him and briefly made eye contact with Cobb before taking a seat.

"Good Morning Mr. Cobb." Grey said after taking a sip of coffee and placing the mug to the side. "Please have a seat."

Grey waved over a waiter and order two more cups of coffee. "I assume you have gathered a team together by now."

He sounded so casual about it that no one that walked by would consider their conversation odd. Cobb nodded in response to the question. "Yes I have all people I've worked with before and all people I consider the best at their jobs." This would be something Grey would be pleased to hear. He liked the best and Arthur, Ariadne, Eames and Yusuf were the best.

"That is good to hear. Have there been any plans made yet?" Cobb had been prepared to answer few questions. Typically the people who hired them for jobs did not get to involved; Saito being the exception. Usually they did the job, the proof was delivered, and that was that.

Cobb gave the information he knew. They would attempt this job while Stanton was alone at his vacation house. After going in they would attempt to discourage Steins as a choice while encouraging Grey Enterprises as the better choice.

"I'm glad to see things are coming along, I expect to be kept informed of your progress and will be in touch to set up another appointment." Again he waved over the waiter, this time for the check.

"Mr. Grey before you leave I have a few other things I'd like to discuss with you." Jonathan Grey looked a little surprised. He took the check and turned back to Cobb.

"First I mentioned before that one of my colleagues would be impersonating you and we think it would be beneficial if he could meet with you in person." Grey seemed to be considering it. "You see if you've met with Stanton before, which you have, he may notice differences in your mannerisms and this needs to be as believable as possible."

"Alright then, bring your associate with you to our next meeting." He hesitated before adding on, "Perhaps if necessary I can arrange more time to meet with him."

Cobb nodded and then it was his turn to hesitate. He wasn't sure how Grey would respond to his request to see Miles. The worst he could do would be to refuse completely and Cobb would have to continue to deal with the constant fear and guilt in the back of his mind; praying it would not interfere with the shared dreaming as his guilt over Mal's death had. The best he could hope for would be a face to face meeting to insure Miles was in fact safe and unharmed.

"Is there anything else Mr. Cobb, I have to prepare for check out and an early afternoon flight."

"Yes, I would like to speak with Miles" he blurted out before quickly composing himself. "I feel that if I don't it may jeopardize the job."

Much to his surprise he got what he had hoped for. "I understand Mr. Cobb, but I must be sure you understand I'm not doing this for your sake but to insure this job is completed as flawlessly as possible."

Cobb didn't move or say anything, just waited. "Next time we meet I will set up time for you to speak with him though I can assure you now that he is being perfectly well taken care of." Grey read the look on Cobb's face as disbelief. "But again I understand that you wish to confirm this for yourself."

He stood and Cobb did the same. "Till next time," he held out his hand and despite the urge not to Cobb took his hand in a firm hand shake before turning quickly to leave. One can only be so polite with a person who is holding someone you care about hostage.

* * *

"You'll be coming with me to the next meeting with Grey." Eames leaned back in his chair with his phone pressed to his ear, as Cobb told him about his conversation with Grey. "And he agreed to set up a meeting with Miles for me."

"All good news then, hopefully we'll be able to knock this job out quickly."

"The quicker the better, what's everyone doing?" Eames twisted his chair around and observed the other two members of the team working in the warehouse.

"Ariadne appears to be working on floor plans for the office building if the piles of crumpled paper are any indication and Arthur is clicking away at his computer." Eames laughed before adding, "You know it's amazing how the two of them manage to stare at each other only when the other is not looking, it's like they've gone and synchronized it."

Cobb laughed over the phone. "Clearly you don't have enough work on your hands if you've moved on to studying your co-workers, so how about we get you out of that warehouse."

"It will surely ruin my fun but what did you have in mind?" Eames asked curiously.

"We've decided the job will be done when Stanton is at his vacation home but we will still need access to the house, do you have any experience as a security guard?"

"With my skills I could have experience as a brain surgeon and it'd look authentic."

"I'll keep that in mind," Cobb replied and Eames was sure he was rolling his eyes. "Make some calls, Stanton only has a guard on duty when he's there or guests are using the house so you won't have much to do there between now and the job."

"I'm on it," Eames said as he leaned forward in his chair. "Where is Yusuf by the way we were expecting him in over an hour ago."

"He's meeting with a supplier in the area for the ingredients in the compound he's working on. I'm about to go pick him up and we'll be at the warehouse in a while." The conversation finished up quickly after that and Eames hung up his phone and tossed it on the desk.

Getting a job as a security guard was going to take all of an hour of his time and Eames felt it could wait until after he enjoyed a few moments of his favorite past time; annoying the hell out of Arthur.

He stood and looked towards the point man who was not focus on his computer but instead was watching the pretty architect crumple another sheet of paper and heave it across the room. Eames walked up behind the man and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"How's that research coming Darling?" Eames smirked as Arthur's attention snapped back to the laptop in front of him; but in true point man fashion he collected himself and turned to Eames.

"What did Cobb have to say?"

"He and Yusuf are on their way here, the meeting went well and," Eames looked over at Ariadne who was hurrying across the room for the paper she threw moments ago, "Grey agreed to set up a meeting with Miles."

Arthur also looked back at the architect to make sure she was out of hearing distance.

"That's good, the last thing we need is Cobb's guilty conscience interfering with the job again."

"It did complicate things for us last time didn't it?" At this point Ariadne had flattened out the floor plan she had been working on and was approaching them.

"Do either of you know how many floors are in the office building that Stanton's main office is in?" She laid the paper across Arthur's desk and pointed to a blank corner. "I need to know whether I need to add more staircases."

"I can bring up a map of the building for you in a minute," Arthur said as he scanned the floor plan in front of him. "Why don't you take a break you've been working non-stop for hours."

"So have you."

Eames laughed out loud, "She's got you there."

"And what have you been doing all morning Eames?" Arthur asked him. Eames leaned against the desk and considered his answer quickly. He had done some research on Carlton Steins but not enough that Arthur would consider it work. In fact it was probably all information he already knew. So after glancing at the work Ariadne had done he improvised.

"I've been thinking about the other dream levels." This caught both his colleagues' attention.

"Really?" Ariadne asked, "Because I haven't got any ideas."

"Well nothing too detailed," Eames started to explain and attempted to recall of a bit of information that could help him. "Well Steins is pretty young right?"

"Twenty-eight," Arthur specified. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well earlier you said Stanton was the traditional type right, old fashioned values and morals right?" Arthur nodded and Ariadne looked ready to pounce on any bit of inspiration handed to her. "Well we can use that to make Steins appear the untrustworthy choice. It's not hard to convince someone that a young person could be irresponsible or rebellious." Eames watched as they both considered this and he mentally congratulated himself. For something he improvised on the spot this could really help them.

"Is that all then?" Arthur asked. "It's a good idea but rather vague don't you think."

"I apologize, but I thought it was your job to come up with the plans." Before Arthur could say anything in return Ariadne jumped in.

"I think it's a great idea Eames," she gestured to the lap top on the desk. "Google 'bad business habits' and we can worry about staircases later." Eames smirked, pleased that he had succeeded in pissing Arthur off simply by getting Ariadne to side with him.

Arthur sighed and was reaching for his computer when a little box in the corner started to blink. Instead of redirecting to the popular search engine Arthur opened the box and a chart of numbers was brought up on the screen.

"What's all that?" Ariadne asked curiously and leaned closer. Eames noticed that Arthur did not protest to the girl entering his space however he did tense slightly.

"It's Steins banking accounts." He explained and scrolled down the list of numbers. "It could be useful to see how he spends both the company's money as well as his own. " Eames and Ariadne waited patiently clearly hoping for something that actually was useful to pop up. When they noticed Arthur's brow furrow in confusion Ariadne finally asked if something interesting had appeared.

"Just yesterday Steins made a very large deposit into another account." Arthur clicked around on the page.

"It's a big company, is it strange that they would make a large deposit?" Ariadne asked.

"Not when it's to the account of another company, but this is to an individual."

"What's the name?" Eames asked. It took a few moments for Arthur to respond and when he finally did you could hear the frustration in his voice.

"Damian Hale."

"Hale?" Damn. Things just had to get more complicated.

"Who's Damian Hale?"

"Damian Hale isn't a real person," Arthur brought his hand up and pressed hard on the bridge of his nose. "It's an alias for Hale Reynolds, an extractor."

"Seriously?" Ariadne said as though it never really occurred to her that there were other extractors in the world. She knew there was but this one actually had a name; it made him much more real.

"He's also a narcissistic pain in the ass-"

"But a decent extractor none-the-less." Arthur interrupted.

"So what, you said hiring extractors was common among C.E.O.s and big companies." Eames shook his head as Ariadne spoke.

"He's probably been hired by Steins for the same job we have, does he have any other major opportunities right now?"

"No the Stanton deal is the only one on the table right now." Arthur said, while quickly flipped through the papers in a file folder on his desk.

At this moment the door to the warehouse opened and Cobb and Yusuf's voices filled the room. When they noticed the small group around the one computer they hurried over to see what had drawn their attention.

"Steins is taking the easy way out," Arthur informed them, "he's hired an extractor for what we can assume is the same job as ours."

Cobb cursed loudly clearly stressed by this information.

"It gets better too," Eames said sarcastically. "Our competition is Hale Reynolds." When Cobb swore again Ariadne could no longer contain her curiosity. Clearly they knew this fellow extractor on a personal level.

"How do you all know this Reynolds guy?"

"We've worked with him before," Cobb looked at Eames, "some of us more recently than others and he's a good extractor."

"If he's going to try to get into Stanton's mind then our job just got a lot more difficult."

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**Okay i hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I will let you know that in the coming chapters the focus will shift from more job plot little relationship plot to more relationship plot little less job plot. At least for a little while. though they will probably even out eventually.**

**Thanks to those few reviewers, I do like to hear what you think. You guys are great and I appreciate those who are favoriting and alerting the story as well.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Note:** First off thank you everyone who reviewed on the last chapter, I think I got 6 reviews which i'm pretty sure is the most for a chapter so far. And thank you to everyone who read it and didn't review. You guys are great too.

Second this is kind of the chapter i've been dreading as its the introduction (at least by name, she won't appear for a couple more chapters i think) of my original character. I for one am not a huge fan of OCs but i felt this story really called for one. OCs that are i guess in this case 'villians' or antagonists are a little easier to get used too. Sometimes an OC either becomes the center of the story and/or is perfect so i'm going to try my best to avoid that. I hope I can.

Third, this chapter is a little shorter but i think my note makes up for the word count difference. Anyways enjoy.

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**Chapter Seven: The Pros and Cons of Asking for Help**

"So explain to me how Steins hiring an extractor is going to make our job more complicated, aside from the obvious he gets there before us scenario." Ariadne looked around at her colleagues who after a few moments of arguing about whether or not the job was going to end in disaster had composed themselves and were gathered in a circle and deciding on a plan of action.

"Hale is a tricky extractor," Cobb explained. "He's smart enough to figure out what is going to be the best way to do his job while making sure we can't do ours."

"How do we know he knows Grey hired us to do a job?" She asked.

"Because anyone who knows anything about Grey knows he would want a little insurance that he is going to get what he wants." Arthur said as he stood from his chair and walked over to the dry erase board. "I can't even begin to list all the problems we could be facing whether Hale goes in before or after us. If we complete the job first than his team could possibly change the outcome by going in after us; but then their idea may not take. And if that's the case then if they go in first our idea may not take."

Ariadne's head started to hurt from taking in all the information.

"Once again Arthur you have left out another possibility," Eames pointed out and drawing everyone's attention. "What if Hale's team were to enter the dream while we already have him under?"

"Has that ever happened to you guys before?"

"No."

The team looked around at each other nobody knowing what to do with that thought.

"I think we need to bring in some extra help," Cobb said breaking the silence. Ariadne noticed that as Cobb spoke he was watching Arthur who was scribbling something on the board.

"That's a thought, someone who has experience dealing with unpredictable problems," Eames said and he seemed to be picking up on something between the lines of Cobb's words. He too turned his attention on Arthur and Ariadne began to think they already had someone in mind; someone Arthur obviously knew. She looked over at Yusuf, the only other person in the room who didn't have any idea what was going on. He shrugged.

"Who are we talking about?"

"It doesn't matter who they are talking about because I'm not calling her." Arthur answered. "You both know she gave up shared dreaming and I'm not going to ask her to help us after what happened." He turned around facing them with his arms firmly crossed.

"You know she'd would help us is you asked, it's in her nature," Eames reasoned.

"Who are we talking about?" Ariadne asked again.

"They want me to call my sister Danielle," Arthur said.

"You have a sister?" Ariadne asked. She never thought about Arthur having a sibling, or relatives of any sort really.

"He does," Eames replied before Arthur could. "You'd never know they are related though, sweet Danielle actually has a personality."

"And how exactly can she help us?"

"It doesn't mat-"

"Dani's got a knack for seeing how a situation is going to come together and planning accordingly from there."

"Like a psychic or something?"

Eames laughed. "Not quite Love but sometimes you'd swear she is."

"She thinks up scenarios, possibly problems, outcomes," Cobb explained. "She can read people, knows when something unexpected is going to happen and adjusts quickly."

"Isn't most of that your Job?" Ariadne asked Arthur.

"When she used to work on extraction jobs she would come up with possible situations and I would research the likelihood and details. Together we'd work out a solution." Arthur said. "But as I said before she is no longer in the business and therefore it does not matter."

Silence fell over them again and Yusuf quickly busied himself with the boxes he just purchased, preparing to move them to his work space. He asked Ariadne for assistance, she looked over Cobb, Arthur and Eames who were all not looking at each other. She waited for something to happen but when nothing was said she nodded and gathered Yusuf's remaining supplies.

Arthur finally moved away from the tension filled group and over towards their makeshift warehouse kitchen. There was a coffee pot and a microwave set up next a sink with working plumbing. He grabbed one of the many mugs Ariadne had donated for them to use. The one with the New York City skyline was his favorite; he tried to avoid the ones from Disney World with the cutsie cartoon characters on the side. He poured the coffee, stuck the mug in the microwave and patiently waited all the while trying to pretend the previous conversation never happened.

"We need her help," Cobb said from behind Arthur, "she'd come and you know that."

"In a heartbeat." He replied as he watched the coffee cup spin slowly in the microwave. "But that's not the point, she gave all this up after what happened to Mal, I can't ask her to come back to it when she doesn't want to."

Cobb's lowered his voice. "If she knew what was going on with Miles she would want to help us, she'd do anything she could to make sure he was okay."

"So you want me to guilt her into helping us by holding her dead best friend's father over her head." Arthur snapped.

"When you say it like that it does seem like a terrible idea doesn't it?" Eames too had wondered over to the kitchenette and was speaking as seriously as any of them had ever heard him. "It would worry her too, which I believe is why we didn't tell Ariadne, why can we put one through the worrying and not the other."

"Because yes Danielle would help us but she would want to know why, she's lost someone important to her because of this stuff we do," Arthur said. "Ariadne wants to do this dream work, but she hasn't lost anything because of it. At least not yet."

"I don't want to upset her; I don't want to bring back bad memories for her but we need her help."Cobb stressed the last part.

They stood quietly; Arthur removed his coffee from the microwave. It had sat long enough that he was able to pick it up without burning his hand.

"You know if she was to ever find out about what happened to Miles, if something does happen to him, God forbid, it would weigh on her mind that she didn't do anything to help." Eames paused. "I think that's why it was so hard for her after what happened with Mal, she felt like she could have, should have done more."

Cobb took a deep breath. He didn't want to bring back bad memories for Danielle and if anyone knew anything about wanting to do more to help it was him. Even if there was no hope. There was hope for Miles though. "Arthur you decide if you want to call her. Her help would be much appreciated but your both right I should've considered how all this would affect her."

Arthur nodded. The pros and cons of calling his sister ran through his head. As he considered it both Cobb and Eames busied themselves with making coffee. Cobb always used the same coffee mug even if he had to wash it out first. It said DAD in bold black letters and had Phillipa and James' hand prints on it. Eames had no preference over coffee mugs and willing took one with a flower pattern wrapping around the base and up the handle.

Arthur could feel the weight of his cell phone lying in his pocket next to a small red die. He could do the same job as Danielle, maybe not as creatively but well enough to handle the job.

"Damian Hale?" Yusuf was hurrying towards them with Ariadne on his heels. "You said Damian Hale is an alias for Hale Reynolds?" The other three men confirmed this with nods and mumbles.

"Right before I left for Paris I made a sale with a man, the name on the account that paid me was Damian Hale I didn't remember at first because I never heard the name spoken I only read it the one time but I knew it was familiar."

"What was it that you sold him," Cobb asked urgently, "and don't pull any of that confidentiality crap because whatever he bought has got to be what he's using on this job."

This looked like it already occurred to Yusuf who was shaking his head clearly disturbed by that thought. "It was the same compound we used on the Fisher Job and quite a bit of it enough for practice trials and a large group of team members."

"Or two teams," Eames said cryptically.

Cobb looked over at Arthur. He had already pulled his phone out of his pocket and was now excusing himself from the group.

"Does he know about the flaws?"

"He knows he can't die in the dream without falling into limbo but made it very clear he knew how to 'kick' his way out of a dream, that he had plenty of experience."

"Sounds like the arrogant git he's always been." Eames said.

"I tried to explain to him that I was in the middle of different compounds that would allow enough sedation to go deep while still being able to die to wake up but he wanted what he could have there and then."

"Always was impatient but we may want to be thankful for that." Cobb said. "They're going to need to do some detailed planning and that's going to take time, time we can use to our advantage."

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**So what did you guys think? Let me know. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Note:** Okay so i'm running a few hours late on my post. Sorry about that; i'm on spring break and i'm busy packing for a trip. I almost forgot completely. For those of you who have been waiting this is the first chapter thats really focused on Arthur and Ariadne and i like it but honestly i still think it could be better. I've not read through it as much as my other chapters so it hasn't been tweaked as much. But that could be a good thing.

I'm also afraid to report that i may not get the next chapter up on time next week. I'm going to be very busy once im back at school and i might have to push it off another week. sorry in advance but i will try.

Anyways i hope you all enjoy this chapter.

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**Chapter Eight: Don't Say Blue**

Ariadne placed her pencil down and leaned back in her chair to view her work. Arthur was busy talking on the phone so she had located the number of floors of Stanton's office building on her own. It had no doubt taken five times longer than it would have for him but she didn't want to disturb him.

She had watched him from out of ear shot for a while. When he first started speaking the conversation obviously wasn't about work. She saw him smile and even laugh a few times. She found it strange that he had a sister. Someone who he had grown up with him and knew things about him; things most people didn't know. She knew things about her brothers that no one else knew. Like that Timothy liked soccer just as much as football but played the latter one because that was what their dad played. And Christopher wished he had a unique name like her because there was at least one other Chris in all his classes and four in his English class.

However, Arthur, she knew next to nothing about and with the amount of time they spent together it was kind of surprising.

She talked about her family on occasion, Cobb went on about his kids to anyone who would listen and she'd definitely heard Eames' tales about the woes of being a middle child when it came up in conversation, so talking about family was not frowned upon on the job or anything like that.

And it wasn't just that; what other things did she know about the others that she didn't know about Arthur; the one on the team she thought she was closest to.

Ariadne heard a chair behind her slide across the floor and looked to see Arthur taking a seat. Now seemed as good a time as any to try and learn more about him. She stood from her chair and walked over to his desk.

"Hey," She tapped his shoulder and he looked up at her.

"Hey," he smiled, "did you still need that information from before?"

"Oh no, I was able to find it, took a while though I don't know how you get all that information that you do but I think I'd go crazy."

"Guess it takes practice."

"So how did it go with your sister?" She blurted out before she could stop herself.

"She's considering helping us, I really hesitated about asking for her help but we could definitely use it." She nodded. Ariadne wanted to ask why he was so against asking his sister to join them and what happened that made her give up dream work, but that seemed awfully personal so she asked a more general question.

"So is she younger or older than you?"

"Danielle?" He was surprised by the question. "She's three years older."

"Did she tease you when you were little," she asked curiously. "My friends used to complain all the time about their little siblings but I get along with my brothers just fine."

"There is a bigger age gap between you and your brothers than with most siblings." It didn't shock her in the slightest that he knew how old her brothers were, but she saw an opening for another question she'd long kept in the back of her mind.

"Is it weird knowing all the things that you know about so many people?"

Ariadne was beginning to think the connection between her mouth and brain was no longer in her control. He had work to do and so did she, now wasn't the time to be asking him weird questions.

"What do you mean?" If he hadn't sounded genuinely curious she would have found away to brush off the question, but because he did and he didn't seem to mind her distracting him from work she continued on.

"You know information about people you've never met before, doesn't it feel like you're invading their privacy?"

"It was a little awkward at first but like you said I don't meet most these people and the ones I do meet it's only briefly."

"What about the people you do work with for a long time," she asked. "Like me, you know tons of things about me, where I grew up, where I went to school, how old my little brothers are; I don't even know your favorite color."

"You want to know my favorite color?"

"Yes, and don't you dare say blue." He laughed out loud at her exasperated tone. "I just feel awkward with you knowing all sorts of personal stuff about me when I don't even know trivial facts about you."

He frowned. He never meant to make her uncomfortable. When he does the background checks on the people he's working with he doesn't expect to become close to them; at least not like he was with Ariadne.

And close they were. During the Fisher job they worked together often as he taught her the basics. But even as she adjusted to the job and the people she'd go straight to him with questions and he would subtly check to make sure she was okay and that the pressures of the job weren't getting to her.

They had also flirted with each other; a lot. It wasn't 'normal' flirting according to Eames but neither Arthur nor Ariadne fell into the normal category so of course they would have their unique way of letting each other know "yeah, I like you." However due to the large time gap between seeing each other it was like they were back at square one. And, to Arthur, flirting with her seemed much harder this time around.

"I guess because I know how easy it is to get a person's information I do a better job than most at keeping things about myself to myself."

Ariadne nodded and replied quietly. "Yeah, I guess that makes a lot of sense." She waited for him to say something more, but she wasn't sure what she expected. Was he supposed to tell her his whole life's story or maybe answer her silly color question? A moment later she realized he wasn't going to tell her anything at all. Maybe she made him uncomfortable with her questions. He just said he likes to keep things about himself to himself, did she not understand that?

"I should probably get back to work; I've got to start on the office building models."

"Don't forget to take a break and eat something."

She smiled. "I will in a bit, don't worry."

Arthur watched her go feeling as though he'd just missed an opportunity he may not get again. Would it have killed him to tell her something personal about himself?

"Would it have killed you to tell her something about yourself?" Arthur feared for a moment that his conscience had taken on Eames' voice until the man himself stepped into view.

"Don't you have something to do?"

"I just spoke with Stanton's head of security and I'm my way out for an interview with him." Eames crossed his arms and smirked, "A lot more than you've accomplished in the last hour unless you were able to convince Danielle to join us."

Arthur sighed.

"Is that a no?" Eames asked and his smile faltered.

"She's thinking about it?" He replied. "I can tell she doesn't want to but like you said it's Dani, and if someone asks her for help she's going to, especially given the circumstances."

"You know the last thing I want to do is drag Danielle into something she hates but it's for the best," Eames arms fell to his sides. "I'd better go or I'm going to be late."

Arthur hated it when Eames was sincere; it made it harder to dislike him. He knew by the end of the day he'd receive a phone call from his sister. When she said she was going to think about it, it was really to buy time for her to digest everything he told her. She'd been so upset after Mal's death and like many others blamed it on the dreaming.

But Arthur didn't want to think about that, there were too many other things that demanded his attention. The only problem was those tasks all revolved around the job and now the job was dependent on Danielle.

He looked over at Ariadne. She had pulled out the boards to start working on her models. Again he thought that telling her something about himself wouldn't kill him and right now it would serve as a wonderful distraction.

He stood quickly before he could change his mind and walked up behind her. She was leaning over the floor plan with a scale in her hand taking measurements.

"So why can't I say blue?" She jumped, nearly dropped the scale and spun around.

"What?"

"When you asked me what my favorite color is you told me I couldn't say blue," he clarified.

She laughed and leaned back against the desk. "Because blue is what people always say when they don't know what their favorite color really is."

"What if my favorite color really is blue?"

"Is it?"

He had to think about that. He wasn't really sure what his favorite color was; blue was nice but it was like she said: was it his favorite?

"No."

"Then I guess it doesn't matter." She grinned at him and turned back around to her work.

"Red."

"Huh?" She looked back over her shoulder.

"I like red." The words sounded weird to him but he assumed it was due to his lack of experience with such mundane subjects.

"I would have never guessed that," she fiddled with the scale in her hands. "Honestly I thought you were going to say blue."He chuckled loudly and she smiled again. "I guess I'm not as good as Eames is at reading people."

"I doubt Eames would be able to guess my favorite color." Arthur didn't even know why he picked red, how the hell was Eames going to know.

"You never know."

They fell into silence as Arthur stepped closer to the table to look at her plans. She hurriedly moved the model boards out of the way. As always he was impressed.

"So does knowing my favorite color make it less awkward that I know so much about you?" He asked.

She shrugged. "A little."

"What if I told you something else?"

"Like what?"

"What would you like to know?"

They spent the next hour talking as they worked. Ariadne had started transferring measurements to the boards and Arthur had set up his laptop on her desk. She had learned that Arthur's favorite food was lasagna. That he was born in Georgia but grew up in Maryland, his mother never really lost the southern accent and you could hear it in his sister's voice too, if she got to talking too much. He mentioned playing baseball in high school and occasionally he'd still watch a game on TV. Ariadne jumped in to say she was on the softball team but she and her family preferred football; even her mom which surprised many people because she was even smaller than her daughter.

Ariadne still didn't know as much about Arthur as he knew about her but she definitely wasn't feeling uncomfortable about it anymore. In fact knowing things like his favorite food and color seemed more significant. Only he could tell her those things, it wasn't going to be in a database somewhere, there was no paper trail to follow to find it. That wasn't the same case for her because she would put things like that on Facebook without thinking twice about it, but really what were the chances that Arthur had a Facebook page?

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** I guess i should point out that I DON'T OWN FACEBOOK. There is a whole movie about that and i'm not mentioned once as far as i know. So i hope you enjoyed this chapter. Again there may not be an update next week. I think later im going to go back and read this again hopefully i won't have to make any changes though. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Note:** And I thought this was going to be one of the shorter chapters. But once I got into it I could stop. However it took me a few pages to get into it and thats why its quite late. My updates probably won't be as regular anymore but I will do my best. My obsessions tend to bounce back and forth and unfortunatly that happened between this chapter and the last chapter. But no worries i'll watch the movie tomorrow and will be back in business. At least sort of kind of.

please enjoy the next chapter that i think turned out far better than i planned. My OC finally makes her appearence; I hope you guys don't hate her :)

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**Chapter Nine: Sketchbooks, Poker Chips and Dogs**

Ariadne pushed her chair back away from her desk as far as her arms would allow. She needed to get away from her drawings; every time she closed her eyes in the last few days she saw floor plans for office buildings and layouts for conference rooms. Why Cobb had asked for a second office building was only briefly explained, something about irresponsibility and missing appointments. All she knew was that her mind was trying to come up with a third level that was, well, not so dull.

But despite the question constantly running through the back of her mind she had nothing and now she needed to focus on something else. She didn't want to admit it out loud because she didn't want the others to worry but she really would like to do was go into a dream. It had been eight months or so since the inception and since the new job started they hadn't once gone under; didn't they think she could use some practice or a refresher session, anything.

She looked around the room, her eyes stopping on each teammate. She could just see Cobb at the back of the warehouse flipping through a children's book. She felt bad that it was partly her fault that he had to work so far away from his kids but he'd assured her five or six times already that this was the best place for them to work.

Her eyes moved quickly passed Yusuf who was deeply engrossed in what he was doing. Earlier when Eames had tried to start conversation with him Yusuf had snapped at him and shouted something about not disturbing him while he was working. Ariadne feared if she stared to long he may snap at her as well.

Eames was leaned back in his chair, reading off the computer screen in front of him, with his totem twirling between his fingers.

Finally she looked over at Arthur. He had just returned from is morning collection of every local newspaper, and was setting up, much to her original surprise, to read them all.

She sighed. When she turned her attention back to the work in front of her, she still felt no motivation to continue. Leaning against the leg of her drafting desk was her messenger bag packed with textbooks and sketchbooks for class; as well as an extra sketch book for doodling.

Professor Miles had suggested she carry that extra sketchbook with her when he noticed her drawing in the margins of her notes during class. He also told her that when she is feeling uninspired to sketch things other than buildings. Sometimes you just needed to take a break from what you always do and try something new. To her surprise it usually helped and even more to her surprise she found she was pretty good at drawing people. Not great; but pretty good. They were like buildings, no two exactly alike. She reached down and grabbed up the book, flipping to the first clean page.

She picked up the pencil from her table and once again scanned the other people in the room deciding who would be the subject of her boredom this time. Eames was sitting surprisingly still aside from his fingers twirling the poker chip in his hand and scrolling down the computer screen. It was a rare opportunity and Ariadne quickly set to sketching something other than a building for the first time in days.

Drawing people was frustrating for most people and she was no exception. Proportions and angles always differed from person to person. However, it relaxed her none the less to do something different but still challenging. She glanced up and down from subject to sketch in the back of her mind thinking that she'd never seen Eames sit still for so long and honestly didn't think he could. Apparently she thought right.

Eames sat forward and stood up; he pocketed his totem and started across the room towards her.

"Did you need something Love?" he asked curiously.

"You moved, you weren't supposed to move."

"A pretty girl keeps staring at me from across the room and I'm not supposed to approach her?" Eames grinned. "Clearly I've been going about this wrong for years."

Ariadne rolled her eyes. "I was drawing you." She held out the sketchbook to him. He took it, stared at it a moment and tilted it to the side. It appeared he was trying to decide whether or not it looked like him.

"So you draw buildings and people, impressive."

"Thanks." She said her cheeks turning a bit pink at the compliment. "It's sort of a hobby of mi-Eames!" The man may or may not of been listening to her but rather than handing the book back to her after he examined his picture he flipped the book open and started through the pages. There were sketches of quite a few people in the book. Family and friends, her old roommate, her Lil' Sis Carter, and the later entries were mostly of the team.

"So should I be offended that there are not nearly as many of me in here as there are of our resident stick in the mud."

Ariadne turned just a little bit pinker before holding her hand out for the book. "He sits still better than you do." A true fact; and a mostly true reason as to why there were more sketches of one than the other.

"Of course." He replied disbelievingly

"It's true." She defended. "You are constantly fidgeting, tapping you fingers, rocking in your chair fiddling with your poker chip."

"I'm not always-" Ariadne cut him off by opening to the last drawing. "I guess it's a hobby of mine."

Ariadne tossed the book down on the desk, noting that the hand holding the totem was a little off and needed to be fixed. And then rather unexplainably she found herself staring at the drawing.

"Ariadne?" Eames asked.

"Gambling," She replied. She turned to look at him with great excitement in her eyes. "What if Stanton was to catch Steins at a casino carelessly gambling away his own money. If he's as traditional and morale as Arthur says he is than Steins will look like an irresponsible child in his eyes."

Eames grinned, definitely intrigued by the idea but before he could give his opinion Ariadne was looking around the room widely.

"Where did Cobb go?"

"He left bout' ten minutes ago, where've you been?"

"Oh never mind," She spun on her heel heading for Arthur as fast as her feet would carry her. By the time Eames had reached them Arthur was nodding his head and smiling at Ariadne's enthusiasm over a new project.

"It's a good idea but I think we better run it by Cobb before you get started on any plans."

Ariadne sighed. She was ready to get stared now but, she glanced at the clock, Cobb probably only stepped out to go grab lunch so he wouldn't be gone long. The break in her excitement did allow her to think the idea through more thoroughly though and suddenly she had doubts.

"Would something like this permanently effect Steins reputation?" She asked. The two men next to her had started discussing which level would be best for the suggested dreamscape. They turned to her.

"What do you mean?"

"I know we want Stanton to believe Steins is irresponsible but isn't it a bit immoral to unfairly ruin his reputation. He's not really a gambling addict or anything."

Eames smiled at Ariadne and he tried to remember if he had ever been so innocent in his entire life. Arthur answered her question.

"If what you're worried about is Stanton spreading rumors about Steins then don't." He started to explain. "These ideas will only be briefly addressed on the earlier levels to set up the third and it's highly unlikely any of them would inadvertently stick with him. They're too broad."

"That and from what I've learned about Steins he's about as interesting in being a business man as you are." Eames said. "He'd probably be thrilled about some bad publicity might convince the executives to put someone else in charge."

She looked from Arthur to Eames and then back to Arthur. "You're sure?" She asked.

"Positive." She relaxed a little.

"Anything else botherin' you?"

She tried to release the obvious tension in her shoulders. "It's just that when planning a space it helps when you've got some knowledge of that kind of space."

"That makes sense." Eames said, not fully understanding her dilemma.

"So you've never been to a casino before?"

"You're not the only one who needs to do some research to get the job done."

"Well this isn't a problem at all, grab your coat and we'll just remedy this situation." Eames placed a hand on Ariadne's shoulder and gently pushed her back towards her desk. They didn't make two steps before Arthur was up on his feet.

"You are not taking her out gambling."

"And why not," Eames retorted "You heard her she needs some firsthand experience with the environment before she's ever gonna be able to design one."

"Going to a casino is not my concern," he said "it's going with you that-"

"Well then by all means come along Darling, you could certainly do with some lightening up."

"We don't even know if Cobb is going to agree to this,"

"It's a brilliant plan; Cobb being the one with the final decision is just a technicality."

"Okay, okay enough." Ariadne interrupted their bickering. "When Cobb gets back we run the plan by him and if he agrees, we will make plans for me to see a casino firsthand." The two glared at each other and Ariadne felt very much like she was back at home breaking up and argument between her brothers.

"I think if Cobb agrees than this should be the first level." Arthur said. "If we make the casino part of a hotel it would explain why Stanton is there in the first place. And if they're both in the hotel it would be a good set up for the next level down where Steins misses a meeting with him. Somewhere in his subconscious he'll know that Steins is there and just late."

Ariadne was bouncing on her feet with anticipation. Cobb needed to get back to the warehouse now.

As if on cue they heard the door opening across the room. Ariadne began to move for it but stopped. _Was that a bark?_

There was the sound of struggling, definitely more barking and a shout of "NO GRACIE!" The next thing Ariadne saw made her take a few steps back; the biggest dog she'd ever seen just burst into the room and was now sprinting in her direction.

But it wasn't running at her. The monster dog blurred past her and she spun around in time to see the dog leap, all four paws off the ground, at Arthur. They both went down fast; Arthur just managed to miss the desk behind him. The dog was unfazed and proceeded to lick his face uncontrollably.

Ariadne then registered more shouting and barking, two more blurs went by and she watched as a tall, thin, dark haired woman grabbed the dogs collar and tried to pull the dog off Arthur. A second dog was sniffing around and then joined its companion in attacking Arthur who was trying to push them both away.

"Eames, help me!" The women shouted at the man who was doubled over laughing. He managed to compose himself enough to move towards the commotion grab the large dog's collar and heave him off the man on the ground. The women picked up the leash of the smaller dog and pulled back. He came more willingly than the first.

"I'm sorry Arthur, I didn't want to leave them in the rental car." Arthur had been left quite a mess by the whole situation. He sat up a little straighter and pushed his hair back out of his face. His shirt and tie were askew and covered in paw prints and his face was covered in dog slobber.

"Are you alright?" Ariadne asked. He hadn't said anything yet; she was hoping it was from shock and not from a concussion.

"I'm fine-" and then after another moment, "It's nice to see you again Dani."

The women smiled and dropped to her knees to hug him. The smaller dog sat next to them tail wagging a mile a minute. Ariadne looked over at the other dog. Eames had distracted her by scratching her belly.

"Danielle, my dear, maybe you should have left the dogs at the hotel." Eames suggested.

"Oh but they wanted so much to see Uncle Arthur." She said as she stood up laughing and offered her hand. "Look how excited they were to see you."

"Is this your sister?" The group just noticed Yusuf had left his bubble, surely unable to focus with such a grand scale interruption.

And that's when it really clicked with Ariadne. This was Arthur's sister. And after getting a better look at her it was unmistakable. Danielle was tall and thin. Her facial features were very similar, definitely the eyes. Her hair was very long and curly, pulled up in a messy ponytail but clearly the same color as Arthur's. If he hadn't told her a few days ago that she was in fact three years older she would have asked if they were twins.

"Yusuf, Ariadne, I'd like you to meet Danielle, Danielle this is Yusuf and Ariadne." Arthur introduced them.

"It's so nice to meet you." She stepped forward and hugged them both.

Apparently the resemblance to her brother stopped with their appearance.

* * *

**Did you like it? Let me know, I love hearing what you think. By the way I've had this vision of a huge dog knocking poor Arthur of his feet since I started this story and I was determined to work it in here.**


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